Door For A Washing Appliance

ABSTRACT

A door assembly for an appliance such as a washer, washer/dryer combo or the like has a door assembly to close off an opening into the housing unit. The door assembly includes an outer door and an inner door. The inner door seals the door assembly with a tub and drum assembly inside the housing unit. The inner door includes a mating contour associated with a corresponding contour of the tub and drum opening.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a door assembly for an appliance suchas a washer, washer/dryer combo and, more particularly, to a doorassembly including an inner and outer door.

BACKGROUND

In existing washers and washer/dryer combo machines, there is a problemwith accumulation of lint and detergent along the bellows seal. Thebellows is a seal between the door and the movable tub and drumassembly. The bellows is subjected to lint and detergent and bothaccumulate on the bellows. Thus, the bellows has a tendency to wear outdue to the accumulation. Also, in some type of commercial washers, thedoor is attached to tub. Thus, the door moves with the suspension of thetub and drum assembly. This is not ideal for customers since the doorwill be moving with the suspension; however, it does eliminate the needfor a bellow.

Accordingly, it is an object of the disclosure to provide a door thateliminates the bellows seal between the door and the tub and drumassembly. The present disclosure provides a door assembly with an innerand outer door to enable elimination of the bellows seal. The doorassembly may include a stationary or floating inner door meshing with atub opening access configuration.

SUMMARY

According to an object of the disclosure, a door assembly for anappliance, such as a washer, washer/dryer combination or the likecomprises a door assembly for a housing unit. The door assembly closesoff an opening into the housing unit that enables access to the drum andtub assembly. The door assembly includes an outer door and an innerdoor. The inner door seals the door assembly with the tub and drumassembly inside the housing unit. The inner door includes a matingcontour associated with tub and drum assembly opening. The inner doormay be stationarily positioned on the tub and drum assembly.Alternatively, the inner door may be floatably positioned with the outerdoor. A facia is coupled with the tub and drum assembly closing off thetub and providing an opening into the drum. The facia opening has acorresponding mating surface to mesh with the mating surface of theinner door. A flexible coupling secures the outer door with the innerdoor. The flexible coupling may be an elastomeric sleeve, a spring or adash pot. An aesthetic membrane is positioned between the housing unitand the tub blocking access into a space between the housing unit andthe tub.

According to an additional object of the disclosure, a washer appliancecomprises a housing unit or cabinet with an opening enabling access to adrum and tub assembly inside of the housing unit. The door assemblycloses off the opening into the housing unit that enables access to thedrum and tub assembly. The door assembly includes an outer door and aninner door. The inner door seals the door assembly with the tub and drumassembly inside the housing unit. The inner door includes a matingcontour associated with tub and drum assembly opening. The inner doormay be stationarily positioned on the tub and drum assembly.Alternatively, the inner door may be floatably positioned with the outerdoor. A facia is coupled with the tub and drum assembly closing off thetub and providing an opening into the drum. The facia opening has acorresponding mating surface to mesh with the mating surface of theinner door. A flexible coupling secures the outer door with the innerdoor. The flexible coupling may be an elastomeric sleeve, a spring or adash pot. An aesthetic membrane is positioned between the housing unitand the tub blocking access into a space between the housing unit andthe tub.

Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the descriptionprovided herein. The description and specific examples in this summaryare intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended tolimit the scope of the present disclosure.

DRAWINGS

The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only ofselected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are notintended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a washing appliance in accordance withthe disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of FIG. 1 with the door opened.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a cross-section view of FIG. 1 along line 4-4.

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a second embodiment of thedisclosure.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are an additional embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a rear perspective view of the inner door of FIG. 6A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference tothe accompanying drawings.

Turning to the figures, a washing appliance, such as washing machine ora combo washer/dryer is illustrated and designated with the referencenumeral 10. The machine includes a housing unit 12 that houses a drumand tub assembly 14. A door assembly 16 covers egress into the drum andtub assembly 14. The door assembly 16 includes an outer door 18 and aninner door 20. The outer door 18 secures to the housing unit 12, via ahinge. The outer door 18 includes a catch to enable locking of the outerdoor 18 with the housing unit 12 during operation. The inner door 20 isstationarily fixed to tub and assembly 14. The inner door 20 includes aseal 22 that provides a thermal seal with the drum and tub assembly 14.The inner door 20 has a stepped configuration 24 in cross-section thatenables mating with the drum and tub assembly opening 26. Thus, thecontour 24 interacts with the opening 26 to enable sealing of the innerdoor 20 in the opening 26 to eliminate the need for a bellows seal. Theinner door 20 includes a hinge 30 that secures with the tub and drumassembly 14.

The tub and drum assembly 14 includes a ring assembly 40 that definesthe opening 26. The ring assembly 40 includes a front ring 42 attachedto the tub 44. The front ring 42 is secured, by clamping, welding or thelike, to the tub 44. A seal 46 is positioned between the ring 42 and tub44 to seal the ring 42 with the tub 44. The hinge 30 is secured onto thefront ring 42.

The ring assembly 40 includes a facia member 48 that covers the frontring 42. The facia 48 and the front ring 42 define a cavity 54 betweenthe two. The facia includes a contour 50 that defines the opening 26.The contour 50 is stepped to match the inner door contour. A seal 52 ispositioned on the facia 48 to provide a watertight seal with the innerdoor 20. The seal 52 is contacted by one of the steps of the inner door20 sealing the two to prohibit water from exiting the tub 44 duringoperation. A catch assembly 60 is also mounted on the front ring 42 tomate with a striker 62 or door hook on the inner door 20 to enable aself-locking of the inner door 20 with the tub and drum assembly. Thetub and drum assembly 14 is mounted in the housing unit 12 byconventional elements such as springs, dash pots and the like.

Also, a recirculation inlet 68 passes through the cavity 54 between thefacia 40 and the front ring 42. This enables water in the tub 44 to berecirculated during a washing cycle.

Turning to FIGS. 5-7, an additional embodiment is shown.

FIG. 5 illustrates a second embodiment of the disclosure. The referenceswhich are the same are identified as such. The housing unit 12 houses adrum and tub assembly 14 and includes a door assembly 16. The doorassembly 16 includes an outer door 18 and an inner door 20. The innerdoor 20 is floatable and held onto the outer door 18.

The inner door 20 may include springs 80 and dash pots 82 securing theinner door with the outer door 18. Also, the inner door 20 includes acontour mating with the contour of the opening 26 of the drum and tubassembly 14. The floating inner door 20 with the springs 80 and dashpots 82 enable the inner door 20 to move with the drum and tub assembly14 during the washing/drying operations. The inner door 20 is sealedwith the drum and tub assembly 14 to prohibit water from exiting thedrum and tub assembly. Thus, the spring and dash pots provide asuspension that enables the inner door 20 to bounce with the tub anddrum assembly 14 during the washing and if present, drying, cycle whileenabling the outside door 18 to remain stationarily positioned on thehousing unit. This enables the inner door 20 to seal with the tub anddrum assembly 14 during operation.

In an additional design as illustrated in FIGS. 6A and 6B, a flexibleelastomeric or rubber sleeve 90 can be substituted for the springs anddash pots. This accordion type sleeve 90 would be strong enough so thatit maintains the inner door 20 in its position with respect to the outerdoor 18. The flexible elastomeric sleeve 90 enables the inner door 20 tohang and move or bounce with the tub and drum assembly 14 during thewashing, and if present, drying cycle. The elastomeric sleeve 90provides the suspension to hold the inner door 20 with respect to theouter door 18. The stiffness of the rubber flexible sleeve 90 may bestrong enough to keep the inner door 20 in contact with the opening ofthe tub and drum assembly. Alternatively, a spring could be placedbetween the inner door 20 and outer door 18 to ensure that the innerdoor stays in contact with the opening of the tub and drum 14 during thewash cycle. In another solution, a second electronic door latch and lockare attached to the inner door 20. When the existing outer door lockengages at the start of the wash cycle, the additional door lock wouldalso engage the inner door 20 and lock it with the tub.

FIG. 7 illustrates the inner door 18. Here the door includes a singledoor lock 62 in order to retain the inner door closed during the washingor drying cycle. A biasing means, such as a spring, is not needed tomaintain pressure between the inner door and the drum. Additionally, onthe opposing side of the door, a hook 110 is secured to the door. Thehook passes through an aperture or slot in the hook receiver 112 in thetub/drum assembly. The hook receiver 112 includes a cavity to receivethe hook 110. The hook 110 passes through the slot into the cavity toprovide a floating securement point of the inner door 18 with thetub/drum assembly. Thus, the inner door 18 is removable from the drumduring assembly and provided with a hingeless type of connection withthe tub/drum assembly since the door is not permanently secured with thetub/drum assembly.

With the removal of the bellows seal, a gap 98 exists between the tuband the housing unit or cabinet that a consumer could reach into thecabinet 12. Thus, an aesthetic membrane 100 has been positioned betweenthe housing unit 12 and the tub 44 to eliminate the gap. The membrane100 could be of a rubber or silicone material or any other type toprevent ingress of objects between the housing and the tub.Additionally, the membrane 100 would not come in contact with waterduring the wash cycle. This is due to the fact that the inner door 20would be in contact with the tub opening 26 and sealed with it.Accordingly, the aesthetic membrane closes the gap and does not providefor sealing as does the rubber bellows seal on current existing washers.

The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided forpurposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or featuresof a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particularembodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be usedin a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described.The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to beregarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modificationsare intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A door assembly for an appliance such as awasher, washer/dryer combo or the like comprising: the door assembly fora housing unit, the door assembly closing off an opening into thehousing unit; the door assembly including an outer door and an innerdoor, the inner door sealing the door assembly with a tub and drumassembly inside the housing unit, the inner door including a matingcontour associated with a corresponding contour on the tub and drumopening.
 2. The door assembly of claim 1, wherein the inner door isstationarily positioned on the tub.
 3. The door assembly of claim 1,wherein the inner door is floatably positioned with the outer door. 4.The door assembly of claim 2, wherein a facia is coupled with the tuband drum assembly closing off the tub and defining an opening into adrum.
 5. The door assembly of claim 4, wherein the facia opening has acorresponding mating surface for meshing with the inner door.
 6. Thedoor assembly of claim 3, wherein a flexible coupling secures the outerdoor with the inner door.
 7. The door assembly of claim 6, wherein theflexible coupling is an elastomeric sleeve.
 8. The door assembly ofclaim 6, wherein the flexible coupling is a spring.
 9. The door assemblyof claim 6, wherein the flexible coupling is a dash pot.
 10. The doorassembly of claim 3, wherein an aesthetic membrane is positioned betweenthe housing unit and the tub blocking ingress into a gap between thehousing unit and the tub.
 11. A washer appliance comprising: a housingunit or cabinet with an opening enabling ingress into a drum and tubassembly inside the housing unit; a door assembly for closing off theopening into the housing unit; the door assembly including an outer doorand an inner door, the inner door sealing the door assembly with a tuband drum assembly inside the housing unit, the inner door including amating contour associated with a corresponding contour on the tub anddrum opening.
 12. The washer appliance of claim 11, wherein the innerdoor is stationarily positioned on the tub.
 13. The washer appliance ofclaim 11, wherein the inner door is floatably positioned with the outerdoor.
 14. The washer appliance of claim 12, wherein a facia is coupledwith the tub and drum assembly closing off the tub and defining anopening into a drum.
 15. The washer appliance of claim 14, wherein thefacia opening has a corresponding mating surface for meshing with theinner door.
 16. The washer appliance of claim 13, wherein a flexiblecoupling secures the outer door with the inner door.
 17. The washerappliance of claim 16, wherein the flexible coupling is an elastomericsleeve.
 18. The washer appliance of claim 16, wherein the flexiblecoupling is a spring.
 19. The washer appliance of claim 16, wherein theflexible coupling is a dash pot.
 20. The washer appliance of claim 13,wherein an aesthetic membrane is positioned between the housing unit andthe tub blocking ingress into a gap between the housing unit and thetub.